


The Collected Adventures of Modern Johns

by AlexSimon



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell & Related Fandoms, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV), Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babies, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 16:25:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6914581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexSimon/pseuds/AlexSimon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance encounter on a train changes the lives of fifteen year old John Segundus and sixteen year old John Childermass forever.<br/>(a collection of small vignettes written on the way to work)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twenty Stops

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Owl_by_Night](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owl_by_Night/gifts), [PudentillaMcMoany](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PudentillaMcMoany/gifts).



John Segundus hated Thursdays. 

He hated them because Thursdays were the day that Blaine didn't have clubs or sports after school and rode the same train as he did home.

It started after school, when John felt Blaine walking a few yards behind him. At the station, Segundus sat as far away from Blaine as possible, but he knew that eventually he would have to get on the train and that Blaine would as well. 

Segundus chose a seat and put on his headphones and flinched when Blaine sat across from him and folded his arms with a smirk directed at him. 

His parents had said, after he decided to come out at school, to let them know if anyone bothered him. But he couldn't bring himself to mention long stares and grins that that made his stomach sick with how unfriendly they were. He couldn't bring himself to mention Blaine sitting across from him on the train one day a week and making him feel trapped.

Twenty stops, John Segundus told himself. He opened his backpack and pulled out the comic he had bought yesterday afternoon. He started to count the stops as he opened the book and put his headphones on with a nervous glance over at Blaine, who still watched him and still smirked. Twenty stops and he would be home.

After Segundus counted down two of them, the doors opened and he held his breath, looking up at the doors.  
Please, not today, he thought. Not on a day when Blaine is on. Please do not let him be on today too.

But when the door opened, the Gorgeous Boy and his girlfriend got on the train after all and John Segundus quietly groaned to himself. 

The Gorgeous Boy was, of course, not his name. Segundus did not know his name, only that around two weeks ago he had started riding the train a few days a week and that he was tall and had very long legs and soft black hair and large brown eyes. He smoked too; Segundus saw him fiddling with a pack sometimes, or giving one to the girl he got on with. One day last week it had been warm and the Gorgeous Boy had pulled off his sweatshirt halfway through the train journey. Segundus was almost positive that in short sleeves, he had seen part of a tattoo on the Gorgeous Boy's arm. 

Segundus heard Blaine say his name and he turned his music up. Blaine speaking to him was never good. 

When Blaine saw that Segundus had no intention of looking up from his comic book or acknowledging him, he leaned in across the aisle 

"I asked you a question." 

Segundus heard that clearly over the music. 

The Gorgeous Boy and his girlfriend had turned to look at them. The girl put a hand on Gorgeous Boy's arm and whispered something to him as she shook her head. 

"What?" Segundus asked softy. His eyes darted over to the Gorgeous Boy, who frowned at him and Blaine. Segundus watched the Gorgeous Boy's girlfriend's lips move when she said something to him. 

"I asked where you got your cap," said Blaine.

Segundus didn't answer. There was no good answer and Blaine didn't want one anyway. Segundus stared at the same frame in his comic that he had been since the Gorgeous Boy had gotten on and wondered if there was any chance of getting through this ride without dying of embarrassment. 

Seventeen stops. 

Over the top of his book, Segundus saw Blaine move and before had time to wonder why he had or what he was going to do, the comic had been knocked from his hands. 

Segundus froze, staring at Blaine's face before he scrambled to pick it up. 

As his hands reached it, so did a foot in a shoe that Segundus knew belonged to Blaine. The page crumbled under Blaine's shoe.  
Do not cry, he told himself. Not here. Not in front of him. 

Segundus cursed softly and tugged at the book but Blaine held his foot down. Over the sound of his music he could make out that Blaine had said something to him, but he wasn't sure what it was. 

Then there were other feet walking toward them, only a few steps and the worn sneakers had reached them and then stopped right in Segundus' line of vision. Segundus knew who that was too and he cursed to himself that this had happened on a day when an a boy with the nicest eyes he had ever seen was watching.

Blaine's foot moved from his comic as the other boy approached him and Segundus yanked it up from the floor of the train, accidentally doing it a bit too quickly and falling back into his seat with it hugged against his chest. His earphones fell from his ears as he sat up and he turned his music off in time to hear the Gorgeous Boy say, "What do you think you're doing?"

He has an accent, Segundus thought. A nice one. One perfect for saying something like, 'what do you think you're doing'.  
Blaine did not respond, but stared up at the boy in front him, who was a few inches taller than he was. The Gorgeous Boy's almost shoulder length hair was out of the tie that normally held it back and it fell around his face. 

"I think," said the Gorgeous Boy to Blaine, "that you should probably get off at the next stop and catch the train after this. Or any one that I'm not on." 

There were several seconds where Blaine stared up at the other boy. The train began to slow towards a stop and the doors opened. As they did, Blaine rushed for them. 

The Gorgeous Boy shook his head at Blaine running away and then turned to look down at Segundus. He reached up to hold one of the straps as the train rounded a corner and the bottom of shirt rode up to show part of his stomach that Segundus tried not to look at. 

"You okay, kid?"

"I'm not a kid," said Segundus. 

Well, done, John, Segundus thought. He was only trying to help. But the Gorgeous Boy didn't seem upset by it.  
"Sorry," he said. "Hannah says I come across like a dick sometimes without meaning to." 

"No, I'm sorry," mumbled Segundus. "And thank you." 

The Gorgeous Boy looked at the seat next to Segundus and it took several seconds of him doing that before Segundus realized what he meant. 

"Would like to have a seat?" he asked. 

"Sure." 

The Gorgeous Boy flopped down next to Segundus. 

"I'm John," he said. This close, Segundus could definitely tell that he smoked. He smelled faintly of a cigarette, like one had hours ago, probably sneaked during lunch. 

"Oh. Me too," said Segundus. He had started to blush at hearing that he and this boy shared the same name and he didn't know why. "John Segundus." 

"John Childermass," said the Gorgeous Boy named John. "I guess it's good our parents went simple for first names, huh?"

"Yeah." 

John Segundus could not think of anything to say because the other John was studying his school uniform and being watched so closely by him left him distinctly empty headed. 

"Is everyone at your fancy school such an asshole?" 

"No," said Segundus. "Most people are fine." 

"What's his problem?" 

"There are several, but I think the biggest currently is that I'm gay and that I don't care what he thinks about it."  
Segundus had talked to his parents over three years ago about who he was and who he loved, but had only decided to tell people at school after the winter holidays this year. It got easier each time, but he had never told a cute straight boy he fancied yet. He held his breath waiting for the response. 

"Does he do that at school?" Childermass asked. 

Segundus shrugged. 

"Sometimes."

"Do your parents know? Fuck, sorry, that's really personal." 

"No," said Segundus. "It's fine. I'm not embarrassed. No, they don't know that Blaine bothers me, but yes, they know I'm gay. They say that one day I'll meet someone who makes everything worth it, all of this sort of stuff." 

Count on John Segundus, thought John Segundus, to say way too much about his parents to a boy who made the lingering smoke of a lunchtime cigarette maddening and managed to pull off a chin covered with stubble while still being a student. A boy, Segundus reminded himself, whose beautiful girlfriend watched them at this very moment. Segundus tugged on his cap nervously but the Gorgeous Boy- John Childermass- smiled. 

"They sound nice." 

His smile was perfect, starting slow and crooked and widening. 

"They- um- they are. They're great." 

"You should tell them about that guy. They'd probably wanted to know." 

Segundus nodded. 

"Um, do you need to get back to your girlfriend? I'm fine, really." 

"Girlfriend?" Childermass looked back to the girl that he rode the train with. "Hannah? No, she's not my girlfriend. We went to formal together once, but that was just as friends." 

"Oh. Nice." 

There were only ten stops now. 

"So, what are you reading?" asked John Childermass.

"This?" 

Segundus realized that he still hugged the comic to his chest. He couldn't blame John Childermass for calling him kid earlier.  
"It's just the latest in a series I'm reading. It came out yesterday."

"Cool." 

Segundus wished he had shoved the thing into his bag when he had a chance. 

"No, it's not, really," he muttered. 

"What's it about?"

"Do you really want to know?" 

"Educate me," said the Gorgeous Boy John Childermass. 

John Segundus could hardly say anything for several second after hearing something like that said in that accent, but he collected himself after a moment. 

Segundus told him about the comic for the next nine stops, until he head his announced as next. 

"That's me. I have to go." 

He stood with a sway as the train began to stop. 

John Childermass smiled at him again. 

"See you tomorrow," he said. 

Segundus spent so long watching the smile that he had to hurry for the doors as they started to close. 

"Oh," said Childermass as Segundus reached them and stepped halfway onto the platform. "I like boys too, you know." 

The doors closed and John Segundus stood staring at the train as it left. 

Inside, it, Hannah stood up and walked to her friend John Childermass. 

"Glad we were here today," she said as she sat down. "That boy needed something nice to happen to him." 

Childermass grinned.

"So, I'm something nice?" 

Hannah rolled her eyes. 

"For Comics Boy, maybe. Which just goes to show that there's no accounting for taste because he's cute and still obviously into you. Are you going to ask him out?" 

"Him? Come on. You saw that uniform. Boys like him don't go out with boys like me unless they really want to annoy their middle class parents." 

"Maybe," said Hannah, "you'll be lucky and that cute boy will interested in really annoying his middle class parents."

 

John Segundus got home and, as he normally did, went up to his room to do his homework until one of his parents got home. But he couldn't concentrate today and this once, he decided to put off his homework. He lay in bed staring up and the ceiling with his music on, doing nothing but thinking about John Childermass' brown eyes and his accent and how it sounded saying 'I like boys' and wondering if he really had a tattoo or if had been something else under his shirt sleeve that one time. 

He was still doing that when he heard his father come home. 

Peter Segundus came upstairs to see his son first thing when he got home, like he always did, and found him smiling. His son's smile was something was something Peter had been blown away by for over fifteen years now. 

"Good day, John?" he asked. 

"Yeah." John paused. "I...I um, talked to a boy today." 

Peter Segundus leaned against the door frame and smiled at his son.

"Well, tell me all about him while we get dinner started. Your mum is on her way. Is this the one on the train?" 

"Yeah, Dad. It is." 

 

That night, around 10:30, Peter and Megan Segundus were in their room, discussing their son John while Megan brushed out her hair and her husband sat on the bed distractedly grading papers. 

"You're worried," said Megan after she saw him look down at the same spot on the page he had been going back to for the last several minutes. 

Peter sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. 

"Is it the type of boy he likes right now?" his wife asked him. "He's fifteen, darling, and this boy must seem very cool to him, but there's nothing we can do about that. This John from the train might also be a very nice person who happens to smoke and possibly have tattoos." 

Peter put the cap on his pen and set all of his papers on the beside table. 

"It's not necessarily that. I'd worry no matter who it was that caught his heart, I think. I worry about how big that heart is. I worry that people won't understand how much kindness John needs." 

"There will be people who do. And John will find them."

"But what about that other boy? The one bothering him?"

Megan Segundus put down her hairbrush and got into bed next to her husband. 

"Maybe, if we're lucky, this other John will ride the train a bit more often now and help look out for ours."


	2. Hold Still

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They boys get ready for a night out.

"Hold still," said John Childermass. 

John Segundus' hand rested on his and he held it; his thumb nestled gently in the crook, the tips of the four other fingers of his left hand pressed to Segundus' palm. 

The bottle of nail polish sat between Childermass' feet and he dipped the brush in and painted the last nail, his boyfriend's thumb nail, orange in a few strokes. 

As he put the brush back, a drop of polish dropped on Segundus' duvet, followed quickly by another. 

"Fuck," Segundus said. 

"You don't move," said Childermass. He couldn't help but smile a little; John cursing always reminded him of the first time he had ever heard him do it, when they were intertwined on his parents' couch the first time they were alone for an evening together. "I'll clean it up.'' 

"Don't use the nail polish remover on that." 

"I know, love," said Childermass. 

He dabbed at the nail polish with the end of his shirt and left an orange smear on the duvet and another on the black fabric of the shirt. 

"Fuck," said Segundus again. 

"Do not move," said Childermass. He looked at the orange polish on his shirt and in one movement, pulled it over his head and in other dropped it to the floor. 

"I'll borrow one of yours when we go out, if that's alright." 

"Sure," said Segundus. 

"Give me your hands. I'll dry your nails a bit." 

Segundus held them out and again placed his palms onto the tips of Childermass' fingers. Childermass leaned in and blew on his wet nails until Segundus laughed and pulled back. 

"That tickles." 

"You think everything tickles. Do you want eyeliner?" 

"Sure," said Segundus. 

Childermass stood up and went to the drawer where his boyfriend kept his makeup and found his black eyeliner. He stopped on his way back to the bed and turned the music up. 

"Now you're really going to have to be still."

Childermass took the pencil in one and with the other, he held Segundus' face still as he approached Segundus with the eyeliner pencil. Segundus placed a hand on Childermass knee and closed his eyes while Childermass drew, along the base of the lashes of his right eye, a black line. He hummed the song playing on the radio while he did. Segundus didn't open his eyes when Childermass' right hand on his face was replaced with his left when he switched hands to draw another black line on the lid of his left eye. His eyes were still closed when Childermass gave him a soft kiss on the lips. 

"You look great," said Childermass when Segundus opened his eyes after the kiss ended. "You are basically half eyes right now."   
He leaned down and got the hand mirror from where it sat on the floor and handed it to Segundus. 

"I am very lucky to have an ambidextrous boyfriend," said Segundus after a quick inspection of the neatness of his make up and he put the hand mirror down on the bed. 

"Are you wearing that shirt out tonight?" Childermass asked. 

"I don't know. Maybe not."

"I just thought- you should have changed before we did your nails." 

"You could dry them some more?" 

"Better idea; lift up your arms. I'll get it off for you." 

Segundus did. 

"Now," said Childermass. "Don't move."

He took the end of the shirt in his hands and lifted it up Segundus' chest. He pulled the shirt over Segundus' head, mussing his hair. He slowly moved the shirt along Segundus' right arm and over the wet fingernails and then did the same with the left until the shirt was off and in his hands. Segundus lowered his arms and placed his hands on his knees. Childermass left the shirt on the bed next to the hand mirror. He looked at John sitting in front of him, his chest bare, his fingernails wet and his large eyes sparkling under the black eyeliner. He was much less interested in going out now. 

"Hey, pretty eyes," he said as he leaned in.

He cupped his boyfriend's face with both hands and gave him a long kiss. Segundus raised one of his hands and touched Childermass' arm, but Childermass broke the kiss and lifted it away. 

"Mind your nails," he said. And he put Segundus' hand on the bed with mock firmness and Segundus grinned and let him do the same with his other hand as Childermass leaned in again. 

Childermass kissed Segundus and lay him back on the bed. He then began to to kiss down his chest. 

When Segundus' moved his hand as if to hold him, Childermass lifted his eyes. 

"You," he said, "should stay very still. I worked hard on those nails." 

Segundus put his hand back on the bed and Childermass resumed the kissing. 

"How about my legs?" asked Segundus. 

"We didn't paint your toenails." 

Segundus moved his leg until the toes of his left foot reached Childermass' ankle and then ran up his foot his leg.   
He thought he rather liked this game.


	3. Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Childermass has a bit too much to drink and goes where he feels safe.

He didn't want to be here anymore. 

The music was too loud and people pressed in on him from every side. His shirt stuck to his back with sweat. He was also much drunker than he planned on getting and everything was difficult now; thinking, standing, keeping his eyes open. The noise and his churning stomach were becoming too much to handle. John Childermass thought of last weekend. John Segundus' parents had gone to the cinema and dinner for the night and left them money for take out. They had spent the evening on the couch; slow undressing, slow kisses, John's smile smiling up or down at him depending on how they had moved on the couch. John's eyes with a smudged line of black eyeliner streaked across his eyelids and his lips chapped. 

Childermass took out his phone. 

The club was terrible. He wanted to be with John and if he left now, he could catch the last train to see him. None of his friends would notice, he was sure. 

He pushed his way through the crowd and out into the cool night, where the rush of cold air, for a moment, made him feel better. He leaned against rain soaked wall of the club for a second and took a breath. 

The station seemed far away but he made it in time for the train and collapsed into a seat. He dozed, swaying, as he rode. He felt, if anything, more terrible now that he could concentrate. Yes, he thought, he would let this pass in John's arms, sleep for a bit and feel better. 

 

The knock at his window was too loud, too urgent. 

He knew who it was. It was John, of course, but he always knocked softly when he came over, so that he didn't wake Segundus' parents. 

Segundus sat up, still not fully awake until he saw John struggling to open his window from the outside. 

He crawled across the bed and slid it open. 

"Hi," said Childermass as he crawled into the room and onto Segundus' bed.

"Quiet. It's after 1:00 now." 

John fell back on the bed. His smile from a second ago had disappeared. 

"Are you okay?" asked Segundus. 

"A bit too much to drink is all. Can I stay for a bit? Sorry. I know it's late. I just want to sleep if that's okay."

"Of course you can stay. I'm here. "

"Sorry," said Childermass again. He curled up on his side on Segundus' bed. 

Segundus lay down next to him and gathered him into his arms. John rolled over into his side and put his head on his chest. He smelled strongly of smoke and beer and the smell soon made Segundus' head hurt a bit too but he didn't move. 

He lay awake staring at the ceiling and listening to sound of breathing in his ear. 

Segundus knew when he started dating John that he was different than he was, a bit wilder, and he liked that about him. But tonight, he was worried. John's frowns and apologies the idea of him staggering to him in the middle of the night worried him. 

Tomorrow, they would talk. Tonight, Segundus just had to make sure he was okay. 

 

An hour later, Childermass' eyes opened and he made a hurried effort to pull himself up in the bed. Segundus had a feeling he knew what was happening and he sat up quickly and grabbed the trashcan that sat beside his desk. He held Childermass' hair as he was sick into it and laid him back down in bed when it was all over. 

John closed his eyes and shivered. 

Segundus watched him, not sure if he had fallen back to sleep or not. John was clammy, his lips dry. He was afraid to leave John, but he was just as scared of making it through the rest of the night with him on his own. 

"I'll be right back," Segundus whispered. "I promise, I won't be gone long. Just, be okay for one minute." 

He knocked softly at the door of his parents' room and then opened it a few cautious inches at a time and put his head in.  
His mother rubbed her eyes and looked up at him as he walked to the bed. 

"John? Is everything alright?" 

What a little kid I am, thought Segundus as realized he was about to start crying and then did. 

"Mum, can you help? It's John." 

His dad was up too now, pushing back the covers along with his mother. They followed him from the room at first but then his mother rushed ahead once in the hallway. 

Segundus let his mom go into the room first and she turned on the light. John grimaced and covered his eyes with his arms. 

"Hello, John," said Megan Segundus. "Just me, don't worry. How are you?" 

John rolled over into his side without answering. 

"What do you think?" asked Peter. "Is it alcohol poisoning?" 

"No, thankfully. But I don't think you're going to feel well at all in the morning, John Childermass."

"I don't feel well now," he said. 

Megan turned to her husband and son. 

"I'll take care of things here; get him some water and ring Joan that everything is fine. Why don't you boys go get some sleep?"

"But, Mum-" 

"Come on, John," said Peter softly as he steered his son from the door of his room. "He'll be fine. He's in good hands, you know. And you'll feel better with a bit of rest." 

Peter walked his son to the hall closet where they kept extra pillows and blankets and handed him a few and the two walked downstairs together to the living room where Peter made a bed on the sofa for his son. 

"You aren't mad at him, are you?" asked John Segundus. 

"Mad at a teenager for having a bit too much to drink on the weekend? Son, I did know that such things happened. I'm a bit worried for John, but it's only because I do like him a lot."

Segundus sighed and sat down on the couch. 

"It'll be fine, you'll see," his father told him. "He loves you and he'll do the right thing. Get some rest."


	4. Lads' Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Segundus defends his boyfriend's honor and gets in a fight at school, but things do not turn out quite like he expected.

He was surprised that punching someone hurt as much as it did. John Segundus would have expected being punched to hurt, but no so much that the other way around might be just as painful. But it was. 

John's knuckles throbbed and as he sat in the nurse's office, they slowly swelled under the ice pack he had been given. He flexed them once and a stab of pain broke through the numbness the ice had set into play. 

Blaine sat across from him. He had an ice pack too, one that covered his right eye, which John Segundus had, ten minutes ago, punched during the middle of study hall. The area around his eye had already begun to bruise and, like Segunduds' knuckles, to swell. Blaine glared with the one eye he could see from but said nothing. 

"You're both fine," said Nurse Jackson. "I'm going to call Mrs Green and tell her you're on your way to her office to talk about this."

The phone call was short; a few yeses and nos and then the nurse hung up. 

"Go on boys," he said. "She's waiting."

Blaine stood and walked to the door. Segundus got a small smile as he followed him.

Segundus and Blaine did not speak on the way the headmistress' office. A few people with hall passes walked by them and turned to stare. A fight was rare at their school, cause for gossip, especially when started by one of the quietest students, a student who few enough people had heard speak, much less thought capable of throwing a punch during class.  
Segundus guessed that anyone at school who did not know that he was gay soon would. Punching someone for insulting his boyfriend was not, thought Segundus, the way he would have chosen to tell people but it was done now. 

Blaine and John sat next to each other outside the office while they waited for Mrs Green. From the corner of his eye, Segundus saw Blaine glower down at his shoes. When he saw that he was watched, he scooted as far as he could to the other side of the bench but still said nothing. Whatever else could be said, being punched had made Blaine quieter. 

The headmistress emerged from her office obviously exasperated. 

"Okay," she began, "who-" 

She stopped suddenly when she saw Segundus. 

"Segundus? You?" 

"Sorry," he said. 

"I'll speak to you first." She turned to Blaine. "Your mother is already on her way. Wait here." 

Segundus stood and shuffled after her into the office. Mrs Green closed the door and sat at her desk, shaking her head. He took a seat in the chair in front of it, slumped down.

"Segundus," said Mrs Green wearily. "I know your parents. Your father and I taught together before I got this job. I don't want to have to tell him this." 

"Sorry," John said again. 

"I trust you had a good reason." 

He took a deep breath.

"Well, miss, he said my boyfriend looked poor and dirty. Which he's not." 

"Oh." Mrs Green paused. "That's not a nice thing to say." 

"No, it's not." 

"But you mustn't punch people." 

John slumped further down in his chair. 

"I know." 

"I'll have to phone your parents now, Segundus." 

Mrs Green reached for phone but then pulled back after a thinking over a question for a long moment with her hand raised above the receiver. 

"Is that something I can tell them? When I phone? Do your parents know you have a boyfriend, John?" 

"They do, miss." 

"That's what I thought." 

Mrs Green sighed and rubbed her temples and then reached for the phone again. 

"Shall I call you dad instead of your mum, then?" 

John Segundus nodded.

 

It didn't take Peter Segundus long to arrive to his son's school after calling in an emergency supply teacher to cover his class for the rest of the day. 

His son's heart fell as he saw his father approach, clearly irate. John had rarely had a chance to see his father so angry, or angry at all, but Peter frowned deeply and his eyebrows were tensely knotted and his cheeks had some of the fire in them that John recognized from any time he himself was overly emotional. 

But as his father approached him, he did something John Segundus had not expected and he gathered him into a hug. 

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Dad." 

"The other boy?"

John nodded and his father did not let him go. 

"I'm so sorry," said Peter Segundus to his son. 

"What?" 

Peter Segundus dropped his arms from his around son. 

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that. If this school were safer, you wouldn't have to defend yourself. This boy knocks things from your hand on the train and follows you around and now this." 

"They can say whatever they want about me, they just need to leave John out of it," John muttered. And his father sighed in commiseration. 

"I'm going to have a talk with Susie- with Mrs Green and then we'll leave." 

John Segundus nearly shoved his hands in pockets, but even the small movement of his hand made him flinch. 

"Sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your friend, Dad." 

"You haven't. Not all. But I need to know before I leave that you're going to be safe when this suspension is over. If you're not, your mother and I will find you a different school."

John sat down on the bench and leaned back with his head leaned back against the wall. 

 

In the car, Peter Segundus sneaked looks at his son's hand while he drove. 

"Does that hurt too much?' 

"A bit." 

"Do you need to go to see your mum? Let her take a look and see everything is alright?' John groaned. 

"Please, no. Do we have to tell her at all?" 

"You can't go to school till next week. I think she might notice that. Besides, I called her on the way to get you." 

The car got quiet for several minutes while Peter drove. 

"John. I had a thought." 

"Yes?" 

"It's close enough to the end of the school day now. Do you think John would mind much missing his last class? I thought I might take you boys out for dinner. Maybe have a bit of lads' evening." 

"I..." 

He didn't want to smile, but he did. 

"I don't think John would mind that at all." 

John Childermass waited from the when they pulled up at the school and got into the car with a grin. 

"Mr S. John."

"You look far too happy too happy a bit missing a bit of school, John Childermass," said Peter Segundus. 

"Sorry, Mr S." 

John Segundus turned around to look at the backseat where his boyfriend sat. 

"Did you really punch someone?" asked Childermass.

"I did." 

"Blaine?" 

"Yeah."

Childermass grinned. 

"Awesome. He's such an asshole. Sorry, Mr S." 

"John, I've told you, please call me Peter."

Riding in the car to dinner with his boyfriend and his father, John Segundus did not know quite how punching someone and being suspended from school had turned into this, but he couldn't say that he was complaining. 

 

The boys fell asleep in the back seat on the way from dinner. 

Peter Segundus made two phone calls on the drive; one to his wife and one to Joan. Then, he drove them back to the Segundus home. 

"John," he said. "John and John. We're home."

The boys woke and Segundus lifted his head from Childermass' shoulder. They both stretched as they sat and took in that they were at the Segundus house with Childermass still with them. 

"John is staying with us tonight," Peter told them. "Joan and Mum say it's fine."

John and John walked groggily to the house and up the stairs.

It was earlier than they were used to going to sleep, but it had been a long day and they were happy to curl up in Segundus' small bed. 


	5. Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John Segundus takes their relationship to the next level

The first thing had been to ask Joan. 

Segundus went to her house on an evening when her son was working. Joan made him tea and brought out biscuits from the cupboard for him, which he couldn't stomach eating. 

He was going to ask John to marry him if she said no or not. He knew she wouldn't, but he also knew that he would ask no matter what. There was no way he could not have John in his life for the rest of it. 

As Segundus worked up the nerve to begin the conversation, his tea nearly slipped from his sweaty palms and he set on the table in the front of him.

"Is everything alright?" Joan asked. He nodded. 

"I just wanted to know what you thought of...I hoped you would be alright if I asked John- if I asked your son to marry me."  
Joan responded with a large grin that Segundus thought was quite similar to John's. 

"It's nice of you to ask. But he's grown. And he's always done what he liked, one way or the other." 

"I know, but..." 

Joan grinned again. 

"You're a good boy, John. I'm glad we have you. As much as it matters to me, ask away." 

Segundus began to relax now that permission was given and Joan motioned with her mug toward the plate of biscuits, urging Segundus to take one. 

"Is there going to be a ring?" she asked. 

"I- I have one. I wasn't sure..." 

Joan put down her tea and held out her hand. Segundus reached in his pocket and brought out the small box.  
"I didn't want to ask any of our friends what they thought about getting one...Will he like a ring, Joan?" 

He'd had it made special. No one really did engagement rings for men in large numbers. Since he hadn't been able to go look at a selection he'd brought one of John's other rings to a place and asked them what they thought he should do. 

"What kind of man is he?" the jeweler had wanted to know. 

"Tall. Northern. Long hair. Doesn't shave much." 

"Eyes?" 

"Brown." 

The jeweler had smiled. He hadn't been able to really describe the brown, but he must have put a lot into saying that one word because she got it. He knew by the smile. Three weeks later, he had gone back to pick it up, a ring with a thicker gold band than the others on display, but not as large as a wedding band. The diamond in the middle was small, subtle, and the exact color of John's eyes. 

"He'll like it well," Joan said, after turning it over in her hands. "He'll like most of all that it's from you. He'll be very happy with it." 

"And will he say yes, do you think?" 

Joan laughed. 

"I'm sorry, John. Your poor face right now. It's just- what a question. Of course he'll say yes." 

She scooted the plate of biscuits toward him and he finally took one. He was feeling suddenly very light. 

 

"It's a nice night," Segundus said. 

Childermass looked up from his book. 

"It is." 

"Would you like to go out?" 

Childermass took a moment to think about it. Segundus wondered frantically if John said he didn't want to if he would have to do it there, in their tiny flat. He couldn't wait any longer to ask and it was happening tonight whether Childermass wanted to go out or not. But he stretched and put down his book. 

"Sure. Where to?" 

"I sort of feel like an ice cream." 

He knew that would work. There was a place around a few streets over that Childermass admitted to stopping at once a week but often went to closer to three. 

"You never want sweets," said Childermass as he got his jacket. 

"Well, tonight I do." 

"I'm not complaining, mind." 

They walked to the store together holding hands. Segundus couldn't help but think that in a few minutes' time, he might be engaged. 

Segundus' stomach was in knots but he forced himself to eat half of the ice cream he had ordered so John wouldn't think anything was amiss. Him leaving food was normal, so when he chucked the rest into a bin as they walked into the park on the way home, there was nothing to draw John's attention. 

There was nothing special about where he chose, except that this park was where they came in nice weather just to pass an evening. It made him happy to think of this place. He had laid in the grass here on a hot summer night with John on many occasions, holding hands and talking as the stars finally came into view after a late sunset. He had been caught in an unexpected storm with John here and rushed home, the two of them laughing. 

John was three steps ahead before he he realized Segundus wasn't walking next to him anymore. He turned around and his boyfriend was in the middle of the path, down on one knee, holding out a box. 

"John? What are you doing?"

The box shook a little in Segundus' hands. 

"John Childermass, will you marry me?" Segundus asked. 

Segundus hadn't expected the tears. His heart stopped at first before a second had passed he knew that they were happy.  
A few people had stopped to watch as they passed by and they cheered when John rolled his eyes as he wiped a few tears away and told Segundus to get over there and make an honest man of him already. 

Segundus put the ring on his finger and kissed him for a very long time, until his head spun. Their small audience cheered again and John pulled him to him in a tight embrace. Segundus rested his head on John's chest and he was sure he head him whisper thank you. 

A lady offered to take their picture then and they reluctantly broke away. 

In it, they have their arms each other and Childermass has his hand in front of him to show off his ring. 

They both smiled hugely. 

 

The men named John called their parents when they got home to tell them the good news. 

They curled up on the couch, Childermass with his head on Segundus' chest as they spoke. He was quieter than normal through the calls and sometimes, he closed his eyes and just listened to the sound of John's voice. Segundus reached up and let his fingers stroke the soft skin of Childermass' neck as he finished the phone call. 

He liked listening to Segundus speak. He liked feeling his cheek warm as it lay against his fiance's chest. He liked the fingers on his neck. 

Childermass was so content that he hardly noticed when Segundus hung up from the second phone call, the one to his parents. 

"You alright?" he asked. 

Childermass nodded. 

"A bit...well." 

Segundus leaned down and kissed him. Few things had ever been as welcome as the feeling of being laid back on the couch, or the feeling his shirt being pulled over his head. 

They fell asleep there, on the couch, sometime much later, when clothes were on the floor and two forgotten glasses of wine were on the coffee table and it was very, very late.


	6. More Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Johns consider expanding their family.

The round of holiday parties started with the one at Segundus' school, on a cold Friday evening shortly before the term ended until the new year. 

Segundus had been working at the school since just before he married and for him and Childermass, it was nearly a family like function; mingling with people who knew them and had for years, swapping stories and asking questions over drinks and paper plates of biscuits and sandwiches. 

There was the usual conversation in the groups around the room, had over the background hum of the holiday music; students that had done well and hadn't during the term, holiday plans, and families. 

"It's Joan's turn to have us on Christmas morning," said Segundus to some of his coworkers. "She's very excited about it. In a very Joan way. We'll see my parents later in the day." 

"Just wait," said of them, a man a bit older than Segundus who taught maths, "until after you and John have kids. All of the holiday arranging will become twice as hard. Everyone will want the grandchildren on Christmas morning." 

The other teachers in the group chimed in quickly and began to tell their own stories about holiday nightmares with their in-laws. Segundus' quiet was hardly noticed. He looked across the room to where John was talking with a group of spouses.   
John Childermass had dressed up for the evening and wore his nicest trousers with a collared shirt and tie, but was the only man there with hair to his shoulders. Segundus remembered the first time the staff had met him at a party similar to this and how much they had grown to like him through the years. 

He excused himself from the group and moved closer to John, until they were side by side, quiet standing together.   
Childermass and Segundus excused themselves from the party before it was too late. 

Segundus climbed into the passenger seat and closed his eyes, listening to Childermass start the car. He let himself rest for a moment as John drove the familiar route home. 

"Did you have an alright time?" asked Segundus. 

"I did. I'm ready to be home though." 

Segundus opened his eyes.

"Don't start getting tired of the season yet. There's still your work party, the Strange and Grant one, Christmas day itself and your birthday." 

Childermass coughed off the mention of his birthday with a smile. He knew that as much as he protested, it would be celebrated. 

"John," said Segundus "Did anyone talk to you about children tonight?"

"Theirs? Of course." 

"No. Ours." 

"Ours?" 

"David mentioned it. Something about how once we started having kids the holidays would be more difficult to navigate. I just don't think I've ever had anyone assume we're having kids before." 

Childermass was quiet as he drove. 

"I've been thinking about that, actually." 

"Oh. Have you?" 

Childermass nodded. 

"Don't you feel it sometimes? Like there's someone not in the house who ought to be?" 

Segundus thought about the question and a smile came onto his face. 

"Well, that is a nice way to put it. Is it time?" 

"If it is time for you, John, it's time for me. No need to say yes right at this moment. Think about it." 

When they go home, Segundus hug his coat and he stood near the door, looking into his house. 

He and John had bought this place a few years after getting married, once they'd saved up. It had always been the two of them here, in the decade or so since. That had always felt right. He listened for what John had described, the feeling of waiting for someone to arrive. He watched John take off his shoes and loosen the tie he had worn to the party. 

Segundus thought it was there after all. He felt it when he walked upstairs with his husband to go to bed. He could feel distinctly that there seemed to be more room now that he thought of it, like something had opened up. Yes there was more; more space that he wanted to fill with a family he had with John. 

They undressed and got into bed quickly to escape the cold. 

"John," said Segundus. 

Childermass yawned and rolled over, closer to his husband 

"Yes?"

"I think...I think it might be time for me as well."


	7. Annie

The flight was late by several hours. They arrived back in London as the sun rose, long after they were supposed to be at home. The baby was red faced and exhausted, squirming as much her exhaustion and the softness of her new life would let her. 

Childermass and Peter Segundus waited for the bags and while they waited, Annie fell asleep against Segundus' shoulder after a number of small sighs. Segundus watched them intently, and her face in sleep. You've only known me a few days, he thought, but you're happy to sleep while I hold you. When his father and husband came back with the bags, they made their way from the airport to the train. Annie didn't know it, but she was watched by three men, and the subject of a whispered conversation. 

When they took their seats on the train, Segundus handed the sleeping baby to Childermass and leaned against him holding his free hand, soon asleep himself. Segundus' father was asleep across the aisle minutes later, after checking with his son in law that he and Annie were fine and that neither needed anything from him. 

John Childermass managed to stay awake on the journey home. He watched the bags and kept Segundus from wobbling too much in his sleep and most of all, he tried to remember as much as he could of bringing the baby home; the hot weather, the freckles on John's arms, the music coming from the headphones of a young man sitting near them. His daughter woke before her other father and John Childermass kissed her head and told her that she was nearly home and the two of them waited. 

From the train, everyone was too tired to drive, so they got to cab back to the house where the men named John lived.  
While they were gone, someone had tied a pink balloon to the mailbox that still followed the breeze playfully around; It's a Girl.

The house was quiet as John Segundus and his father brought the bags inside and set them next to the couch and Childermass followed with the baby. 

Then, minutes after coming inside, Annie Childermass-Segundus woke and blearily looked around her new home for the first time and then, making a grab at her father's shirt with her small fingers and lifting her eyes to him, she cried. The Segundus men turned to her at the same time as Childermass began to sway with her.

"Oh, John, you're exhausted," said Segundus. 

"I am," said Childermass. He did not take his eyes from his daughter. 

"Give her to me?" 

Childermass kissed the baby's head. 

"Sure," he said. 

A pat the baby's back, a quieting noise and a gentle bounce in Segundus' arms. 

"Go on to bed. I'll take care of Annie and join you soon." 

Childermass kissed the top of his husband's head now and went upstairs. Segundus looked around for his father but didn't see him. There was noise from the kitchen though and minutes later, John Segundus was handed a bottle by his father and he fed his daughter with one hand while getting the guest room ready with the other. 

 

The house was quiet. 

The bottle went into the sink when Annie was full, untended to for the moment. 

Segundus was going to bathe her, but she had already fallen back to sleep and he knew that he soon would too. It could wait a bit longer, he thought. He drew the curtains in the nursery and lay the baby down on the changing table. Segundus managed a clean diaper and a change of clothes for Annie without her waking. 

As he put her into the crib, he looked up at a sound in the door and saw his husband standing there. 

"You're supposed to be sleeping." 

"Couldn't," said Childermass. "You know I never really can without you."

He watched Segundus lay the baby down and take a long moment to watch her.

"Didn't really want to miss that either," said Childermass. "The first bed time."

"Bed?" asked Segundus. For the first time, he turned on the baby monitor.

"Bed."


	8. Complete

The baby was finally asleep and her parents knew that while that was the case that they should be too. But in the first bit of quiet of the day, finding themselves alone together, they couldn't bear to spend it sleeping. They closed the door to their daughter's room quietly and went downstairs with no real plan. The kitchen seemed a good place for two men who hadn't quite gotten to sit down to dinner, but once there, they kissed sleepily, gently, for a moment and then stood holding each other. The food was forgotten. 

"Something to drink?" asked John Childermass. 

"I shouldn't. I have to be up for work in-" John Segundus looked at his watch. "Six hours. But yes. One." 

John Childermass reached in the fridge for a bottle of wine that had been opened earlier in the week over dinner and largely abandoned since as they got busy with their new family. He held that with one hand and his husband's hand with other as they walked into the living room. 

They crumbled on to the sofa together and arranged themselves with Segundus tucked under Childermass' arm. Childermass wriggled the cork free from the bottle and took a small drink and then handed it to Segundus, who did the same. 

"God, this brings me back," he said. "When we were teenagers and my parents were out." 

"I was a bad influence. You never had a drink before meeting me." 

"And not that many after, thank you very much." 

Segundus took another sip and handed the wine to his husband. 

"Do you remember my sixteenth birthday?" he asked. 

Childermass smiled widely. 

"Now, that's not something I'd not soon forget, seeing you naked for the first time." 

Segundus smiled too. 

"I was so nervous about that! I wasn't sure I looked good at all." 

"You did. You do." 

Childermass put the wine on the coffee table in front of the sofa and then leaned his head against Segundus'.

"Do you remember all the fuss?" Segundus asked. "Getting it all right?" 

"We were very young."

Segundus sat up suddenly and put a hand on Childermass' chest. 

"John! I just remembered the flowers you brought. That ratty little bouquet was so sweet. It made me cry, remember? And the comic. I still have that, you know." 

Childermass kissed his husband on the forehead and left a red imprint of his lips from the wine that he wiped away with his thumb. Segundus nestled back in place against Chuldermass and they both closed their eyes in a momentary acknowledgement of their exhaustion. 

"I'm glad I don't have to sneak through a window any more to get to you." 

"Me too. But you know my parents would have let you in if you'd just come to the front door." 

"No fun in that," mumbled Childermass. 

"Oh, there would have been a little fun." 

They let themselves get quiet. Both were to tired too move, too comfortable holding each other. 

"Want to sleep here?" asked Childermass. "Annie will probably wake us before long anyway." 

Segundus nodded and the two men lay back on the couch: John Childermass on his back and John Segundus on his side his head on his chest. 

They were both asleep in seconds.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy meeting Segundus' parents in this; Peter and Dr Megan.  
> They are perfect and I kill them in everything else.


End file.
